Orinda: Fire guts home, two residents displaced

Does not seem suspicious? Really - the entire burns to the ground, unsafe for investigators and they already know it's not suspicious before the Arson Team shows up? We have an arsonist roaming around and it's not suspicious?

Orinda: Fire guts home, two residents displaced

ORINDA -- Two people were displaced after a fire gutted a two-story home in Orinda on Sunday night, a fire official said.

A neighbor across the street was the first one to report the blaze, which began around 10 p.m. on Bobolink Road, Moraga-Orinda Fire District Chief Stephen Healy said. Fire crews arrived to find flames coming from about half the 2,500-square-foot home and vegetation outside beginning to burn, prompting a second alarm, Healy said.

According to neighbors, the residents of the house were not at home when the fire started. None of the neighboring houses were damaged, and nobody was injured, he said.

A home in Orinda burns in a two-alarm fire Jan. 12, 2014. (Moraga-Orinda Fire District)

Fire crews contained the blaze in 21 minutes. Healy said 29 personnel from the MOFD and Contra Costa Fire Protection District were involved in fighting the blaze, which caused approximately $800,000 in damages to the home. Healy said crews attempted to salvage some belongings in the home, but that parts of the house began collapsing later Monday morning, making any salvage work unsafe.

"It's too dangerous to go in there, so we're trying to determine whether the next step is to bulldoze the rest of it," he said. "It's not inhabitable."

The Red Cross was requested to help the residents find housing, but it was not known if they were going to use other alternatives, Healy said.

The origin and cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Healy said it does not appear to be suspicious.